Mom whose overdose photo went viral celebrates a year of sobriety

Opioid addiction is a staggering problem in Indiana, affecting 1 in 20 Hoosiers or nearly 300,000 people. The IndyStar is partnering with the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation on a yearlong reporting series to raise awareness of the opioid epidemic.
Dwight Adams/IndyStar

Erika P. Hurt's left hand holds a hypodermic needle in this image captured from an officer's body camera. Police say Hurt overdosed on heroin Saturday with her 10-month-old son in back seat of a car parked in a Dollar General parking lot in Hope Ind.(Photo: Provided by Hope Town Marshal Matthew Tallent.)

"I've decided to repost the picture simply because it displays exactly what heroin addiction is," Hurt wrote. "Also because I do not want to ever forget where the road of addiction has taken me."

Hurt called that photo "the absolute worst moment of my life." She's using it to remind her to keep fighting.

"Today, I am able to focus on the good that came from that picture," Hurt wrote. "Today, I am a mother to my son, again. Today, I am able to be grateful to actually have solid proof where addiction will only lead you, and today I am able to say that I am one year sober!"